By Michael Duck
Morning Call
Copyright 2007 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
BETHLEHEM, Penn. — The treasurer for the Hecktown Ambulance Corps used more than $2,500 of the volunteer organization’s money to pay her phone bills, electric bills and other household expenses, according to charges filed Tuesday.
Cheryl Oblick, 40, of 570 Georgetown Road, Lower Nazareth Township, also is accused of forging signatures on other Hecktown Ambulance checks, court documents state.
When confronted in March about the missing money, Oblick “freely admitted” that she had used Hecktown Ambulance checks to pay her bills and “questioned the severity of her crime,” Colonial Regional police said in court documents.
Oblick agreed to turn herself in and was arraigned Tuesday afternoon before District Judge Joseph Barner of Lower Nazareth, said Detective Gary Hammer of Colonial Regional.
Oblick had been treasurer for Hecktown Ambulance, which serves Lower Nazareth, from January 2006 through May of this year, Hammer said.
According to court documents, Assistant Ambulance Capt. Tim Sullivan contacted police after corps members became suspicious about how Oblick was handling the finances. Oblick paid all of the corps’ bills from her home, where she also kept all of the organization’s financial records, court documents state.
After police obtained a search warrant, they found she had used 18 Hecktown Ambulance checks to pay her household expenses and forged signatures on another seven checks, usually making them out to herself, according to court documents.
Oblick, who faces charges of theft and forgery, is free on $10,000 unsecured bail.
MaM